Colorado Avalanche / NHL

Matt Duchene a happy camper with Avalanche because of line he centers

Matt Duchene, at training camp Sunday, will be centering a line that has P.A. Parenteau and Gabriel Landeskog on the wings. "I'm excited. I got Landy and P.A., great guys to play with," said Duchene, who turns 22 on Wednesday. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Young Avalanche center Matt Duchene was pegged to play alongside new right winger P.A. Parenteau ever since the former New York Islanders forward was signed as a free agent last summer. Sure enough, those two and left winger Gabriel Landeskog were appointed a line Sunday by Colorado coach Joe Sacco on the first day of an abbreviated training camp.

Parenteau earned his four-year, $16 million contract by producing 38 goals with the Islanders as John Tavares' right winger over the past two seasons. Tavares and Duchene are similar players, and were selected first and third, respectively, in the 2009 draft.

"Look at what he's done the last few years. He's really built a name for himself. And looking at his contract, the Avs obviously think a lot of him," Duchene said of Parenteau, 29. "I'm excited. I got Landy and P.A., great guys to play with."

Duchene celebrates his 22nd birthday Wednesday. He would like to continue to play with Landeskog and Parenteau until he is at least 23.

"The one thing I want to talk to them about is, we don't get split up. We make it happen, do the things we need to do to stay together and help this team," Duchene said. "It's going to take a bit to get used to each other, but so far, so good."

The Avs opened camp Sunday, a day after the NHL's new collective bargaining agreement was finalized and a green light was put on a shortened 48-game regular season that begins this weekend.

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The Avs, who open Saturday at Minnesota, practiced for nearly two hours before a overflow crowd at their Family Sports Center complex. They primarily ran high-intensity drills with assigned linemates and defensive pairings, with conditioning at the end. Sacco said his team will begin scrimmaging Monday when the second day of the 26-player camp begins at 10:30 a.m.

"I thought it was a great first day. ... The pace, the intensity, the things that we (coaches) were looking for. Overall I thought we saw a lot of that," said Sacco, who is beginning his fourth season with the Avs. "It looked like we had guys that were excited to be back on the ice again. You could see that passion. Everybody is a little rusty, including the coaches. But that's normal. All we were looking for was intensity, pace and tempo in our practice and we had that."

Parenteau is one of three free-agent signees from last summer, along with third-line center John Mitchell (from the New York Rangers) and defenseman Greg Zanon (Boston Bruins). Mitchell centered veteran right wing Milan Hejduk and Steve Downie on Sunday. Zanon played with several D-man partners.

Veteran center Paul Stastny was between right wing David Jones and Jamie McGinn, a threesome that clicked well late last season after McGinn was acquired from the San Jose Sharks. The fourth line featured center Mark Olver between tough guys Cody McLeod (left) and Patrick Bordeleau (right).

Veteran Chuck Kobasew was ill and didn't skate, leaving David van der Gulik and 21-year-old Mike Sgarbossa as a twosome. Semyon Varlamov and J.S. Giguere are the only goaltenders in camp.

Duchene and other players used words such as "grateful," "appreciative" and "humbled" in regard to the big crowd. Every seat in the stands was occupied and at some points there were three rows deep of fans against the glass. Duchene credited the Denver area's passionate sports fans, and wondered if the big crowd was a product of them "moving on" from the Broncos' stunning playoff loss Saturday. Sacco thinks it was a good sign that the NHL was missed.

"I think folks are excited about hockey. It's (about) time that it's back," he said. "That was a great turnout. And you know, even though it's practice, it certainly motivates the players to some degree, when they see people out there. It livens things up a little bit."

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